PEM/Climate Notebook

The Image Permanence Institute (IPI) would like to announce the
latest developments in environmental monitoring and analysis created
and produced by IPI specifically for libraries, archives, and
museums.

Climate Notebook(r) 3.1, the latest version of IPI's software for
environmental monitoring is now available for purchase through our
website at <URL:http://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org>. This
management tool for organizing, analyzing, and reporting on
environmental conditions was field-tested by nearly 200 libraries,
archives and museums in the US and has been purchased by many more
both here and abroad. The Preservation Environment Monitor(r)
datalogger (PEM) was tested at the same time, and both tools
received very high praise from users. Nearly 1,500 PEMs are
currently in use. These products are based on years of scientific
research on the natural aging of organic materials and the long-term
effects of temperature and humidity on collections.

Climate Notebook incorporates algorithms that provide quantitative
measures of the risk of both natural aging (spontaneous chemical
change in organic objects) and biological decay (expressed as the
likelihood and severity of mold growth on susceptible collection
materials). Version 3.1 adds a metric for mechanical or physical
deterioration caused by gain or loss of moisture. The new
Dimensional Change metrics are modeled on the behavior of a virtual
block of wood and the risk of its physical change during
equilibration with the environment. Climate Notebook now allows the
user to analyze the preservation quality of a storage environment in
terms of all three major types of deterioration - chemical,
mechanical, and biological.

The new software includes IPI's Dew Point Calculator as a
stand-alone executable. This program illustrates the interrelation
of temperature, relative humidity, and dew point, and can be used to
explore how these three elements determine the best available
preservation environment based on a particular environment and
mechanical system. The software package includes a detailed Help
file and a downloadable workbook, "Step-by-Step: Achieving a
Preservation Environment for Collections." Technical support is
available by phone or e-mail from IPI at no charge.

More information about these tools for preservation is available at
IPI's website or at <URL:http://www.climatenotebook.org>.

IPI is a nonprofit laboratory at the Rochester Institute of
Technology in Rochester, NY, devoted to scientific research in
preservation technology. Our goals are based on strong scientific
evidence that heat and moisture are the primary rate-controlling
factors in almost every mode of decay. Control of these factors in
the storage environment is of fundamental importance in preservation
and is more broadly effective than other, more limited, preservation
actions. Since 1985 IPI has supported the preservation field through
research, publications, educational activities, products, and
services.

Funding for IPI and its environmental research has been provided by
the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:13
                 Distributed: Friday, September 2, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-13-002
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